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Ansonia man, state worker indicted in drug case

Michael P. Mayko| on February 12, 2014

ANSONIA -- A federal grand jury indicted a city resident and a counselor employed by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services for conspiring over a two-year period to distribute narcotic pain killers out of a Dwight Street home.

James Costanzo, 35, of 70 Dwight St., and counselor Brian Earl, 39, of North Haven, are expected to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons in Bridgeport next week to plead not guilty to conspiracy and several distribution charges.

Each of the charges carries a maximum 20-year prison term. The case has been assigned for trial to Senior U.S. District Judge Warren W. Eginton in Bridgeport.

The case was built by Ansonia police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration after hearing complaints from residents of Dwight Street, a residential, dead-end neighborhood about four blocks from Nolan Field on the city's west side.

During the course of the investigation, the DEA installed a camera on a nearby utility pole to record the movements in and out of the house. As many as 60 cars showed up each day, officials said.

Costanzo allegedly discovered the camera in October and instructed customers to park one street over on Clarkson Street and walk to his home, according to an affidavit filed by Hamden Police Officer Dedric Jones, who worked the case as a member of the DEA Task Force.

In addition to the conspiracy charge, Costanzo is accused of possession with the intent to distribute oxycodone on six occasions and oxymorphone on two occasions. Investigators made undercover buys leading to the charges.

Earl, who has been employed by the state for 15 years as a counselor, is charged with distributing oxymorphone on two occasions and oxycodone one time, both in January.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Sullivan and Michael Runowicz are seeking forfeiture of Costanzo's properties at 70 and 85 Dwight St.; 21 Winchester St. in Waterbury; 1529 Piney Road in North Fort Myers, Fla.; and 7603 Camelot Road in Port Richey, Fla.

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Authorities also want to seize Earl's home at 375 Skiff St. in North Haven.